Riga, 22/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - Having learned with “great emotion” that Islamic State (IS - Da'esh) has taken the ancient city of Palmyra (which dates back over 2,000 years), France's President François Hollande called for action on Thursday 21 May.
“We must take action because there is a risk for the monuments that are listed as World Heritage, but at the same we must take action to fight against Da'esh and to find a political solution in Syria”, Hollande said on arriving at the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga. “Every day there are massacres. Every day there are exactions on the people. Every day Da'esh, but also the régime, are engaged in fighting and also putting pressure on the civilian people”, he stated.
In a press release, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said that, with the occupation of Palmyra, “yet again hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more risk to be exposed to arbitrary violent actions, and more destructions of cultural sites might be perpetrated”.
“Da'esh's mass killings and deliberate destruction of archaeological and cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq amount to a war crime according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court”, Mogherini added. She also said that the EU had taken all the appropriate steps to prevent the illegal trade of cultural property, which contributes to the financing of terrorist groups. Mogherini reiterated the EU's support for the work of the United Nations to find a political solution to put an end to the conflict, and for the work of the anti-Da'esh coalition to stop the spread of the terrorist organisation. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)